


a good kid who's had a bad run

by bluesandbirds



Series: threads [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Again, Angst, Dream Smp, Family Crynamics, Gen, Pain, TommyInnit Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Tommyinnit needs a hug, arson instead, but not in a kinky way, but says screw that, in a sad way, l'manburg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27782209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandbirds/pseuds/bluesandbirds
Summary: but no one ever will take my sideall i ever do is take the falli swear, i swear that i'm a good kidguess i'm good for nothing at allalright fine here's your villain tommy arc you gremlinscan be seen as a continuation of "how wars are like dodgeball" but both are stand-alones
Series: threads [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2034271
Comments: 87
Kudos: 986
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	a good kid who's had a bad run

**Author's Note:**

> title and summary from "good kid" from the lightning thief musical, a prime tommyinnit song  
> this can be seen as a continuation of "how wars are like dodgeball" but not really because i think the styles pretty different and i don't rly want them attached like that? we'll say it's a possible path for that fic?

The air in L'Manburg is electric. There's no laughter or joking. Only tension and a feeling of _what comes now?_

Ranboo walks through the area, attempting to be as unassuming as a 6'6", two-toned boy can be.

The obsidian border, nightmare black and half-finished like a bad omen, runs through the edges of his vision.

He rounds the corner of the Camarvan and nearly stumbles into the cause of it all.

Standing there is TommyInnit. The boy who welcomed him with a grin, an insult, and an air of trouble. The boy who stands now, stock-still and staring solemnly out at the land. There's no mischief in his eyes. (Ranboo can't see anything in his eyes.)

There's a photograph in the White House of all the original members of L'Manburg wearing their uniforms and arranged in a line. Straight backs and grim determination. Soldiers.

Ranboo thinks Tommy looks like that.

"Hey, Tommy," Ranboo says with an uneasy smile. "How you doing, buddy?"

Tommy doesn't turn to face him. He replies mildly, "I'm good, I'm good." 

Silence falls.

Tommy moves forward, not even flinching when he steps off the bank and sinks into the water. He marches on, coming to stop in front of the strange stone monument resting in the river. The water sloshes against stones as the other boy hoists himself up to the structure.

When Tommy speaks, it's in that same strange tone. "Do you know what this is, Ranboo?"

Ranboo shifts on his heels and looks around.

"What, uh, what is it?" he asks. 

Tommy runs his hands across the jukebox set in the center.

"History," Tommy says.

Something in his stomach drops.

"Do you know L'Manburg's history, Ranboo?"

He swallows hard. "I know parts of it."

Tommy hums. "The anthem says that Wilbur made L'Manburg as this safe, special place. In truth?" He cranes his neck to stare dead at Ranboo. "He just wanted more power."

He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.

"Techno thought it was enough to bring down the government, but it's bigger than that, it's about wiping out L'Manburg for good."

"Tommy?"

A grin, twisted and cruel, cuts across his face. 

His mind races. "Tommy, what are you saying?"

The boy shrugs. "Dream warned them, _betrayed by a friend_. Green bastard didn't even know how right he'd be."

Ranboo shakes his head. "But you were one of them. You loved L'Manburg. Why?"

Tommy leaps onto the shore, coming face to face with the other boy. "I've decided that we don't deserve L'Manburg, not anymore."

_I've been here since I was a kid  
_

_I did everything they ever asked, yeah, I did_

_And for what?_

_"Why don't we call it..._ L'Manburg _?"_

_"I'll give you both of the discs if you let us have our independence."_

_"I just wanted L'Manburg. That's all I've ever wanted."_

_"Don't let the real Wilbur down. Don't let L'Manburg down."_

(L'Manburg was Wilbur's unfinished symphony, but it's the song Tommy's never stopped singing. It's only fair he decides where the bar line goes.

It's only fair he decides where the verse ends.

It's only fair he decides when the music stops.)

_So, I'll do anything_

_I don't care if I hurt anyone_

_It doesn't pay to be a good kid, a good kid, a good son_

_"There is a reason why you are not the president and never will be."_

_"Do you want be a hero, Tommy? THEN DIE LIKE ONE!"_

_"I don't agree with your vice president."_

(Family. What is a family?

He's learned now.

Three people who know just where to put the knife. How to sink it in slowly so he hardly notices when he's bleeding out.)

_None of them were on my side_

_So I think it's time I watched them fall_

_"Tommy, I've never been on your team."_

_"You're a liability, Tommy."_ _"Yeah, you're the largest liability we have at the moment."_

_"Why don't we just exile Tommy?"_

(It's like unrequited love. This nation and these people he gave his life to. Offered his heart to on a rusty platter like _it's not much but it's all I have, please take it_. He doesn't mean anything to them.

Tubbo is dedicated to the cause, not Tommy.)

_Soon you'll see what I did_

_Soon there'll be no **L'Manburg** at all_

Heterochromic eyes go wide.

It starts with the faintest groaning.

The ground quivers.

Cracking from the houses that make up the young city. (New L'Manburg is made of wood.)

Alarmed shouts. Terrified screams.

Tommy laughs and laughs and laughs.

Ranboo stumbles, trying to regain his footing as the land beneath his feet shifts and churns.

"Tommy?" he yells, "What did you do?"

The smell of smoke.

His head whips around.

Fire that races across the rooftops and dances along the path. (New L'Manburg is made of kindling.)

Thunderous blasts. Chunks of earth that go flying.

Tommy steps back and salutes as, for the third time, his country tears itself apart. (It's beautiful.)

An explosion that rocks the entire world brings Ranboo to the ground.

When he looks up, the boy is gone.

(New L'Manburg is ash.)

**Author's Note:**

> lyrics from "the last day of summer" from the lightning thief musical  
> any other day that song verse belongs to wilbur or techno, but today it's villain arc tommy's
> 
> *john mulaney voice* i don't remember that in greek mythology


End file.
